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My name is ji.I want to make friends with people who can speak English to improve my spoken English.Besides,I can teach you chinese.

It's all about magic.
In Russia, there is a holyday, that's celebrated every 23th of February. I's called Day of the Defender of the Fatherland. At this holiday women give gifts to men. Some years ago I was working as a network administrator in small Magadan company. And our women have gifted us teacups. They printed on it our names and our positions  in old-fantasy style. For example, the Director's cup was named "King", the driver's one - "Cabman". My cup was named "Wizard". This was the best compliment in my work:)

So then I thought, that it's not far away from the truth. The magic is around us, we don't mean our lifes without it.
The modern technologies is real magic.
Think about it: 
-You can talk to your friend from other side of the Earth just by pressing some buttons with telecommunication.
-You may light up your house, heat up your food with electricity.
-You can move over hundreds kilometers on your vehicle and all you need to know - what to press and how to drive. The other things are just happening by themselves, without you.

And there are magicians, sorcerers who know this magic. They studied it in universities, know it's laws. They use some magic instruments to make miracles happen. They build magic things, fix it when they broke up and make it do what it's needed to do. Engineers

There is also some magic energy, that is extracted in special places and/or from special materials. Without this energy there will be no magic. You need to power magic things up to make them work. Electricity

When you have two IP phones in different countries connected to the internet, they are just a bunch of plastic and metal. But power it up with electricity and find someone who can configure them and you will have miracle happen. A man from Russia can hear and talk to man in USA as he would be in the same room. 

If you try to think about it seriously, you may find out that almost everything around you is like magic. You have just got used to it. You consider it quite common, and simple. But the truth is that magic is around us and we cannot live without it for a very long time.

Thanks for reading.
Be well

(image from Wikimedia.org)

This list is in response to a question for free language courses on the Mixxer site Facebook page.  When people ask about free courses, they're usually referring to MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses).  MOOCs are pretty amazing.  They are like traditional online courses in that they have quality content that is structured by a qualified instructor (often some of the best-known professors in the field).  In addition to the content, there are usually quizzes each week allowing you to do some self-assessment.  Finally, you are able to connect with other students interested in the same material.  If you get stuck, hopefully there's a way to get help via other members of the course.

That being said, MOOCs lack some qualities of a traditional course that are important, especially in the languages.  First and foremost, there is virtually no contact with the instructors.  They usually post videos that you can listen to, but you are unlikely to communicate with the instructor directly at all.  While there is hopefully some means of contact with other students, you will not have the frequent opportunity to practice communicating in the target that you would in a quality traditional course.  Second, while taking the course is free, receiving any kind of certification is not.  Even if you are willing to pay a fee, very few MOOCs lead to any kind of degree that would be recognized by an employer or an academic institution.

My suggestion is to treat MOOCs for that they, an excellent content resource for your learning.  If you're an active Mixxer user, hopefully you also have a language partner as well.  In addition to giving you an opportunity to practice communicating in the target language, your partner can also hopefully help with questions and other challenges you encounter in the course.  In regards to assessment and accreditation, language learners are also fortunate that there are well-recognized exams that can be taken to measure proficiency.  For English there is the TOEFL.  In the U.S., ACTFL provides exams in a number of foreign languages.  Elsewhere, there are organizations that provide an exam for a single such as the Cervantes Institue for Spanish, Goethe Institute for German, France's Ministry of Education for French, Confucius Institute for Chinese, the Japan Foundation for Japanese,  etc.  While these are not free, they're much cheaper than a degree and provide a way to certify your language skills that is broadly recognized.

Hopefully I haven't killed your enthusiasm.  If you're still game, the major players in MOOCs that I have had some experience with include:

•   Open Learning Institute from Carnegie Mellon
•   EdX by a consortium of U.S. universities,
•   Future Learn by the Open University in the U.K.
•   Coursera (private U.S. company). 

Some other famous providers that I have not tried include:

•    XuetangX from China's Ministry of Education
• Udacity (private company in the US) with mostly professional development type courses
•   Stanford's Lagunita which has some content in Arabic an Spanish as well. 

With most of these courses, they will strongly encourage you to pay for the certification when you sign up.  Sometimes it's even hard to find the free version.  Choose the option to "audit" the course or be an "auditor" if you're looking for the free version.

These are the language courses I was able to find.  Keep in mind as well, though, any course in the target language will be helpful to language learning if you're interested in the topic.  It may seem daunting at first, but if you can read the content and follow the videos (even if slowly), you should give it a try.  I also listed the course start date when there is one, but since you're mostly interested in the content, I wouldn't let it deter you if the course is old.

Arabic

• OLI - Arabic for Global Exchange (beginning Arabic)

Chinese

• OLI - Chinese I (beginning Chinese)
• EdX - Mandarin Chinese: First steps in Chinese
• EdX - Tsinghua University Chinese Course (beginning Chinese)
• EdX - Mandarin Chinese for Business
• EdX - Intermediate Chinese
• EdX - Basic Mandarin Chinese
• EdX - Basic Mandarin Chinese II
• EdX - Basic Mandarin Chinese III
• Coursera - Chinese HSK test prep (started Nov 27th)
• Coursera (started Nov 28th) - Mandarin Chinese / Beginning Chinese
• Coursera (started Nov 28th) - Chino Básico
• Coursera (started Nov 29th) - Chinese for Beginners

English

• OLI - American English Speech
• EdX (archived) - Preparing for the AP* English Language and Composition
• EdX (in progress) - English Grammar and Style
• EdX - TOEFL Test Preparation
• EdX - How to Write and Essay
• EdX - English Grammar and Style
• EdX - Conversation English (for Chinese speakers)
• EdX - English for Doing Business in Asia: Spoken
• Coursera (starts Dec 4th) - Intermediate English Grammar
• Coursera (starts Dec 4th) - Business English
• Coursera (started Nov 27th) - English Communication Skills (mostly business)
• Coursera (started Nov 20th 2017) - Business English: Basics 
• Coursera (started Nov 20th 2017) - Academic Literacy

French

• OLI - French I
• OLI - French II
• EdX - On ramp to French AP exam (AP exam is an advanced exam for high schools in the U.S.  Content is intermediate)
• Coursera - Étudier en France (intermediate)

Italian

• EdX - Italian Language and Culture: Beginner
• EdX - Italian Language and Culture: Intermediate
• EdX - Italian Language and Culture: Advanced
• EdX - AP Italian Language and Culture  (AP is an advanced level exam in the U.S. for high schools.  Content is intermediate to upper-intermediate)

Japanese

• EdX - Japanese Pronunciation

Korean

• Coursera - First Step Korean
• Coursera - Learn to Speak Korean I

Portuguese

• Coursera - Pluralidades em Português Brasileiro (intermediate to advanced Brazilian Portuguese)

Russian

• Coursera - Russian as a foreign language B1+ (intermediate)

Spanish

• OLI - Spanish I
• Coursera (December 18th) - Learn Spanish, note this is actually 5 different modules.  One started Nov 27th.  Check the dates for each.
• EdX - Basic Spanish 1
• EdX - Basic Spanish 2
• EdX - AP Spanish Language and Culture from Boston University (AP is an advanced level exam in the U.S. for high schools.  Content is intermediate to upper-intermediate)
• EdX - AP Spanish Language and Cutlure from St. Margaret's Episcopal School (AP is an advanced level exam in the U.S. for high schools.  Content is intermediate to upper-intermediate)

Not quite a MOOC - content structured as a course, but is only content.  There are no quizzes or tools to interact with other students

• Foreign Service Institute courses,  U.S. gov't. (audio courses)
• Defense Language Institute, U.S. gov't (audio courses)
• Peace Corps, U.S. gov't (audio courses)

How has everyone been here at the Mixxer? I am glad to read more posts, but I would love to be able to chat to you foremost. That's why I am here - I want to know, is online exchange of languages, possible ?  It does feel strage to talk to someone that you do not know, and to plan around having conversations in second or even third languages. As long as we have a safe base, somewhere like this place, or other places in the internet, as long as they are " free"...

Mi experiencia aprendiendo Farsi o Inglés, fue siempre bastante solitaria, en el sentido de que cuando estudiaba no conocía a personas nativas con las cuales poder practicar tales idiomas. Por supuesto, siempre fue bastante senzillo encontrar a alguién con quién poder intercambiar algunas ideas básicas, algunos contenidos muy del día a día, o alguna canción molona. Pero, pronto se descubre que eso no desemboca al mar que los nativos navegan. Es tan complicado llegar a un nivel en el cual uno se siente que puede expresar libremente lo que piensa. 

That´s why I believe that one needs to sail away and land in a safe coast, before any learning can take place. 

Si vas.

Si te vas a calentar, que sea al sol

si vas a engañar, que sea a tu estómago

si vas a llorar, que sea de alegría

si vas a mentir, que sea sobre la edad

si vas a robar, que sea un beso

si vas a perder, que pierdas el miedo

si existe el hambre, que sea de amor

y si es para ser feliz… que sea todo el tiempo.

                                                                   Pablo Neruda

Je m'appelle Elizabeth, j'habite en france or, je suis une femme africaine. Par conséquance, j'ai un peau brun. Mon visage est long et mes cheveaux sont très bouclés, noir et long. J'ai des yeux un peu grand et brun foncé, des lèvre épaissée et rose clair. J'ai un espace entre mes incisives, une front et les oreilles agréable, et les sourcils bien déssinés. 

Hola desde Toronto,

For some time I have been thinking I should start writing a blog, but then I feel that everything has already been said before. Right? Maybe not. Si, me lo permiten voy a empezar a escribir en español, para amenizar un poco, y para introducir una nueva voz. Como ya he dicho, soy de Barcelona, ¿ alguién de aquí ha estado en Barcelona? imagino que sí, ya que hay varios Spanish en the Mixxer. Quería agradecer a los que se dedican a actualizar este website, para que gente como nosotros podamos aprobechar para aprender cuatro o cinco cosas, tal vez mucho más. Pero, todo requiere su tiempo y paciencia, especialmente las lenguas extranjeras, tanto aprenderlas como enseñarlas, ¿ verdad? . Me gustaría preguntaros algo, si estaís leyendo estas palabra, ¿ qué es lo que os motiva más para aprender cierta lengua?  conocer otra cultura, viajar, trabajo, amor, literatura, lo que sea...dicen que Sigmund Freud aprendió español para poder leer a Cervantes, ¿ te motiva hacer algo así de extraordinario?   

Aujourd'hui j'ai passé 4 heures à écrire. Enfin, pour la plupart j'éditais une nouvelle. J'ai vu sur Internet que il y a le group d'écriture local, donc je m'inscris et peut-être demain j'irai les recontrer. 

¡HOLA¡

Puedo ayudarte con tu Español.

Soy un profesor de Español para extranjeros y busco ayuda para perfecionar mi Inglés.

¿Te interesa?

Escríbeme por favor.

-------------------

HELLO

I can help you with your Spanish.

I am a Spanish teacher for foreigners and I am looking for help to improve my English.

Are you interested?

Write to me please.